SEOUL, Nov. 17 (UPI) — North Korea launched an intercontinental ballistic missile on Friday morning that splashed down just 130 miles from the coast of Japan, officials in Seoul and Tokyo said.
South Korea’s military detected a single missile from the Sunan international airport in Pyongyang at 10:15 a.m., the Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a text message to reporters. The missile traveled approximately 620 miles and reached an altitude of 3,920 miles at a speed of Mach 22, the JCS said.
Japan’s defense ministry also reported the launch, saying that the missile flew for 69 minutes and landed just 130 miles west of Hokkaido, inside the waters of the country’s exclusive economic zone.
The missile appeared to have been launched at a high angle, Japanese Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada told reporters in Tokyo. He estimated that it could have traveled over 9,300 miles at a normal trajectory, putting the entire mainland United States within range.
The White House quickly condemned the launch and said the United States would “take all necessary measures to ensure the security of the American homeland and Republic of Korea and Japanese allies.”
“This launch is a brazen violation of multiple U.N. Security Council resolutions and needlessly raises tensions and risks destabilizing the security situation in the region,” National Security Council spokeswoman Adrienne Watson said in a statement.
The launch comes one day after Pyongyang fired a short-range ballistic missile and issued a warning of a “fiercer” military response to enhanced security cooperation among the United States, South Korea and Japan.
North Korea has conducted an unprecedented barrage of missile tests this year, including several long-range launches. The secretive regime fired an ICBM earlier this month, prompting Japan to issue an emergency alert to its citizens.
